Tundra Wyvern
Tundra Wyverns are a rather mysterious race of Wyvern. They live so far in the north that most other sentient races have never had contact to them. They are the smallest race of Wyvern and also one of the most intelligent, rivaling that of Night Wyverns. While the exact location is unknown, their largest gathering is called Snowfall, a nation in the very far north. __FORCETOC__ Physical Description Tundra Wyverns are a tiny race of Wyvern, barely venturing to one meter tall. They are covered in thick, soft fur that protects their frail bodies from the vicious cold of the far north. This fur is thick enough to lead to the Wyvern's death from heat stroke if they stay in lands over 4 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit) for too long. They have no scale to speak of, but their faces are covered in slightly thinner fur, allowing them to easily see, hear, and smell. Even their wing membranes are covered in fur. However, this fur is rather thin compared to the rest. Tundra Wyverns prefer to hug their wings tight to themselves when not using them to prevent the delicate skin from getting damaged or frostbitten. Flight for Tundra Wyverns is usually not the best way of travel. While fast, the freezing temperatures of their homeland would cause the membranes to get heavily frostbitten at higher altitudes. Therefore, when they travel, they take short hops of flight before huddling down for some time to warm back up. Their wings are also quite heavy due to the fur covering, causing these Wyverns to have issues flying for too long anyway. Simply said, it's easier to find a Tundra Wyvern on the ground than in the air. While most of their body is nothing but fur, Tundra Wyverns usually have a line of spikes that go down their spine. They resemble icicles in color, but are made out of solid bone without any blood vessels or marrow. This adaption lets them even have these spikes - otherwise they'd have issues with their blood getting far too cold from running around their spines. These spines are mostly used to protect from attacks from animals that prefer to leap onto their prey. If the Wyvern is good with maneuvering, they can be used as a row of painful weapons. Otherwise, it's good camouflage for clinging to anything that would have icicles on it. Other sources of camouflage on the Wyvern is its fur color. These Wyverns come in shades of white and light blue, blending in with their snowy environment. They never have any patterns, but their color may fade from blue to white on their stomachs or limbs. Their wing membrane may also be white or a paler blue underneath. Their eyes are almost always a stormy grey-white, but sometimes can be hinted with traces of ice-blue. Their claws, spikes, and tail 'pickaxe' are all the same icicle-like pale blue. Their tail 'pickaxe', for lack of a better word, is useful for breaking ice to get at their primary food source - fish. It can easily lodge into the ice from a good tail-slap and break it if thin enough. It's also a very effective weapon, easily able to pierce fur and skin with a good smack. So despite their small stature and "easy prey" look, many predators prefer to avoid these Wyverns. Culture Tundra Wyvern society is mostly survival-of-the-fittest due to their rough environment. Chicks hatch from very thick-shelled eggs into a nest made of pebbles and the furs of animals. Newborn chicks have to stay with their mother for the first few months of their life, or they risk freezing to death in the vicious environment. Once they're able to produce enough body heat and have enough solid fur to move away from their mother, they try to sustain themselves and prove their usefulness to their tribe. Unfortunately, in their attempts to prove themselves to their tribe, many will freeze to death out in the bleak tundra or get lost and are unable to return. Few truly make it to adulthood. If a Wyvern does make it to adulthood, though, they will be put to work in their tribe. They'll either be gathering fish for the food stores, scraping out salt for the preservation of said fish, scouting out dangers, or surveying the weather. Some stand guard and others go out on expedition missions to find more favorable lands. The tribe has no time to be as sexist as Wyverns such as the Forest Wyverns and puts every willing claw to work. Without constant teamwork, it's likely that the tribe will die out. Leadership in Wyvern tribes are usually similar to monarchies. A Wyvern - male or female - will rule primarily, with their mate being second-in-command. Their surviving children will then take up the title. If the tribe believes their rulers are corrupt, they will stage revolts or challenge the ruling family personally. This rarely happens, though, as the tribe is almost a hive-mind when it comes to survival: work together or die trying. Friendships form quickly, but also die quickly, in this culture. Expedition groups or guards that often stick together will generally form close bonds and try to stay with each other. Friendship in this race is probably the strongest out of all of them - instinct makes friends seem like life partners, since sticking together enhances survival in the bleak arctic. If two friends are separated or if one days, on the other hand, the Wyvern is likely to forget the friendship very quickly. Death is so commonplace that it barely effects any Tundra Wyverns anymore. They do honor the dead, though, and bury them in the snow. Tundra Wyverns have mates for life, chosen out of love and sometimes out of necessity. They form close bonds and will mourn each other for a long time if one of the pair dies. Wyvern parents need to stick together to ensure the survival of their chicks, forcing this cultural idea to surface, as one needs to hunt while the other stays with the chicks at all times. In tribal life, truthfully the venturing one is probably taking from the tribe's stores rather than hunting. Even those short trips could spell death for the eggs in such a cold place. Partners that were created out of necessity are less likely to bond. Usually "necessity partners" - two Wyverns who mate just to help expand their tribe's dwindling numbers - will break apart after the chicks grow up. In a tribe with dwindling numbers, almost all mateships are born out of necessity and most of them are between Wyverns with no feeling for each other. However, these Wyverns don't feel much remorse or apprehension to this - it just distracts them from their own self preservation. They place themselves and their tribe above everything else. Tundra Wyverns have no written language or history - they have no time for actions like this. Their intelligence is mostly used towards structuring their tribes and allocating resources correctly rather than luxury matters. They have many, many oral stories that have been passed down for hundreds of years. Their structures aren't very complex - they're igloo-like, made out of packed ice and snow. The "village" looks like a small town square, with a pile of preserved food in a larger igloo in the center. Gallery Category:Species and Races